


Watch Your Back

by RAAMIsABeast



Series: Short Story Collection [22]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Mountaineering, Mythical Beings & Creatures
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-21
Updated: 2018-10-21
Packaged: 2019-08-05 05:54:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 408
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16362113
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RAAMIsABeast/pseuds/RAAMIsABeast
Summary: Should a passerby dare enter, they disappeared. This led to locals calling it the People Swallower, spinning tales about a demon who lived there, taking the brave who defied logic and sense to take on the cave.





	Watch Your Back

The cave was damp; droplets of water slipped down stalagtites. An unearthly howl emanated from its bowels; a howl that would make even a demon quiver. A sound like a thousand snakes writhing in a mass then came; an eldritch whisper accompanying it.

Should a passerby dare enter, they disappeared. This led to locals calling it the People Swallower, spinning tales about a demon who lived there, taking the brave who defied logic and sense to take on the cave.

There was no demon hidden in the bowls of the cave however. The howling from deep down was an entirely different creature, one of strength, revenge and beauty. They say those who saw the beast were mesmerised by its captivating appearance. However, they could have been frozen with fear at actually finding the source of the rumors, the howling, the disappearances. Who knows but the person and the beast?

Stumbling over shattered pieces of the mountain they'd climbed, the three mountaineers listened to the cave tunneling the sounds towards them. A sharing of smiles preceeded them gathering together, near the mouth of the cave. One of them pulled out a phone.

"Photos?"

"Hell yea. Just a selfie outside the cave. I'm not going in."

"Yea. Me neither. Gives me the creeps."

The trio, oblivious to the world, arranged themselves in front of the cave, smiling like idiots as they took a few selfies for home, for their family and for them to remember that they came here, and came back. Wanting to see that the cave was standing as ominously in the pictures as it was in real life, they missed all the signs of something stalking them. They missed the moved foliage, the slipped pebble, the tip of a tail.

"Come on, back down we all go."

The only man there hummed, checking his equipment was in good condition before turning his back to the cave, picking out the route they'd taken to get up here. The two women, one his wife, the other his sister, followed, going in single file. The route was wide enough for them to walk together, however.

 _This was their first mistake_.

Their only warning was the scrape of something sharp on a rock. One of the woman screamed as four rows of large teeth sliced into her torso. Two jaws were powered by large muscles and the beast disappeared again after its initial attack. It'll come back for her dead body.


End file.
